Barcelona won their third straight match to begin the new The League season with a 2-1 comeback victory away to Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t all good news for the Catalans as they might have lost one of their most promising young players to a serious injury.
Midfielder Marc Bernal made his third consecutive start and played another excellent match, and was on course to finish the game when he appeared to suffer a very serious knee injury in a collision with Rayo midfielder Isi Palazón in the 99th minute of the game. Bernal was ruled out almost immediately, and was unable to put any weight on his left leg.
Barça had to finish the game with 10 men but managed to escape with a victory, but Bernal’s injury might have long-lasting effects. The 17-year-old was the star of Barça’s preseason and earned a crucial role as the starting holding midfielder in Hansi Flick’s system, and with injuries to Frenkie de Jong and Gavi as well as possible replacements such as Andreas Christensen and Eric García, Barça now have virtually no depth in the position.
Here’s hoping this was just a scare and Bernal will be back sooner than expected, but those who saw the images know it looked very, very bad.
